A few more points

The Packers essentially had 3 turnovers taken away from them last night. The first was the clear Matt Forte fumble (forced by Charles Woodson) in the first half. There was hardly anything said at the time by the announcers except for a quick admission that it was a blown call by the officials. Then there were the 2 interceptions by Nick Collins.

Charles Woodson, in an interview after the game, took particular exception to the call against Morgan Burnett – saying that it gets old when the default call is always the defensive guy. Burnett also was frustrated by the call. Me too.

Brian Urlacher had a big-time play knocking the ball out of James Jones’ hands at the end there. That was a great play at a big moment in a big game.

3 Responses to “A few more points”

Unfortunately i enjoy betting on sports and as a packer fan it was obvious that we were in a particularly dangerous spot last night going into the game. I hate the idea of fixes and i’m NOT saying it was, but there were a few signs that would have made any gambler nervous last night. The main concern going into the game was that over 70% of all bets on last nights game were on the Packers. Obviously, this means a lot of money stands to be made by the books if the Bears cover. If you watch for these sorts of things they seem to occur a lot of the time when teams are huge public favorites.

I also have a hard time believing that the Packers were that terribly undisciplined. By my count Cutler was picked off 5 times in that game and only one of them counted. What the hell is that? I agree that the Zombo personal foul on the incredible Burnett interception was the correct call but all of the others were fishy at best. In addition, the packers offense and defense were flying high in the first half with the exception of the final minutes (what a bummer that was). Then all of a sudden the 2nd half starts and we can’t do anything without a penalty? The refs kept the bears in the game. We were definitely sloppy out there but everyone knows that basically holding can be called on every play as well as pass interference for the most part. When you see a team with 18 penalties you know that the game is dirty. It also means that the game had to be dirty on both sides of the ball, yet the bears were only flagged 4 times i think. Its a little strange to me….

Lastly, the Burnett interference call at the end was ridiculous… His coverage was like a goddamn glove. The ball was underthrown and HE HAD POSITION and EVERY RIGHT to be where he was. It was a terrible pass. He turned around. I can understand if he hadn’t turned around but he did. Collins pick was an unbelievably difficult play to make. The bears barely picked up any honest yards on that last drive…

I hate to whine like this but i had a feeling things weren’t going to go our way before the game even started….

Yes, Forte did fumble. But it was recovered by the Bears. Moot point other than maybe a couple of yards one way or the other.

The Burnett play was absolutely pass interference. Bennett was trying to make a play on the ball – Burnett was not. Watch the replay – Bennett stopped at about the 12 to position himself to try to catch the ball. Burnett made contact with him and drove him back to the 8. Moving the receiver 4 yards is not having “position”. It is illegal contact, which if the ball is in the air, is called pass interference. There is no debating that. Not to mention Burnett grabbed Bennett’s arms (note the plural, as in BOTH arms). There is no question it was pass interference, and to argue otherwise either proves your complete lack of objectivity, or your ignorance about the game. Or both.

And the idiot who is suggesting the game was fixed because of the disparity in penalties is just foolish. The Packers played horribly. The majority of the penalties came from the offensive line which was clearly out-matched by the faster Bear defenders. Not a conspiracy, just proof that the might Pack isn’t what you thought they were. Sure there were some bad calls. But there are in every game. Bad calls against the Bears too – that roughing the passer call on Melton was very weak and changed the entire drive. And that non-tackle of Kuhns – while corrected by replay — that was about the worst call I’ve ever seen.

But the real point I want to make is this. The Packers are grossly over-rated, and to think that the Bears robbed them is missing what really happened. The Packers have a great passing offense, which looks nice on SportsCenter, but that alone doesn’t make them a great team. Their offensive line is terrible. Secondary, terrible (but with potential). Running game, terrible. Special teams, terrible. Team discipline, terrible. Head coaching, terrible. Even the ‘great’ defense isn’t physically dominant and relies heavily on confusion to succeed, and that can be contained by a well coached team. The majority of the penalties from last night were because the Packers couldn’t match up on a talent basis, and the only chance they had was to ‘cheat’. Yes, the Bears did get a bit lucky but that is the case in every close game — the bounce of a ball, call of an official, slip of a defender, etc. Very good chance the Packers win in Lambeau in January, but that doesn’t mean they were the better team last night. They played foolishly and exposed several weaknesses, and got beat. Not by the refs, but by the Bears. So stop the whining.

I agree with the majority of Mr. Paines’ points although i disagree that there isn’t something to be read into about the disparity in penalties. That was obviously an aggressive and hard fought game and penalties normally accompany that style of play. The part i have a hard time believing is that it didn’t exist on both sides of the ball. I have a hard time believing that the Bears played such a smooth game while the pack was completely out of control. That being said, if the bears really were that clean, more power to em, honestly. In the end we beat ourselves with foolish and sloppy play but the point of my post was to point out some strangeness i noticed in conjunction with where the money was going gambling wise. Thats it. I understand the game and love the game but i really got the feeling that in the 4th quarter, no matter what happened we were destined to lose. Not sure why.

wouldn’t be talking about any of this crap if james jones had just switched the ball to his outside arm hahaha